Lyndon Baines Johnson takes the presidential oath of office on November
22 as Air Force One carries his wife, Lady Bird, Jacqueline Kennedy
and several White House aides back to Washington from Dallas. Earlier,
President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated, and the speed with
which this ceremony was arranged—and the photo released—was
purposeful. Johnson and his advisers wanted to assure a shocked nation
that the government was stable, the situation under control. Images
from the Zapruder film of the shooting, which would raise so many
questions, would not be made public for days.